Posted on 01/31/2005 10:01:36 AM PST by dennisw
An explosive New York Sun article reprinted at the Counterterrorism blog. As you can see, I was consulted on this story, and I will be posting more about it momentarily:
A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered. The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk.One page from barsomyat.com features a group of photographs of a Syrian Christian, "Joseph," who now lives in Canada. Barsomyat.com's users have posted personal information about Joseph, including his brother's parole status, and make clear that they are actively trying to track down his current address.
Subscribers also post explicit warnings to Joseph. One comment states, "Know, oh Christian, that you are not far from us and you are under our watchful eyes!" Another user remarks, "Laugh, oh Chrisitan, and soon you will see a big hit."
Ahmed Paul, an Egyptian Christian and a theology student in America, said he believes Joseph was targeted because he frequently engaged in debates with Muslims on PalTalk. The Internet chat service attracts up to 3 million users a month, and subjects range from movies to music to religion to adult topics -- and some Arabic-speaking users of PalTalk have reported that contentious debates between Christians and Muslims are common in certain chat rooms.
Hossam Armanious, a Coptic Christian from Jersey City, N.J., who was found murdered earlier this month, frequently debated with Muslims on PalTalk. Two months before Armanious's murder, authorities said he received a death threat from a Muslim PalTalk user: "You'd better stop this bull ... or we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you." On January 14, Armanious and his family -- including two daughters, ages 15 and 8 -- were found killed in their Jersey City home, bound and gagged with their throats slashed.
Authorities have not determined whehter Islamic extremists are to blame for the Armanious family's murder, nor is there any apparent link between the murder and barsomyat.com's tracking of Christians on PalTalk. However, many barsomyat.com users expressed jubilation at the deaths.
One user posted a photograph of Hossam Armanious and wrote, "This is a picture of the filthy dog, curser of Muhammad, and a photo of his filthy wife, curser of Muhammad. They got what they deserved for their actions in America."
In all, about 40 different discussion threads on barsomyat.com berate the Christians of PalTalk, and there are at least seven collections of photographs of PalTalk Christians. The barsomyat.com discussion threads seem to focus on Arabic-speaking Christians rather than those who speak English.
Barsomyat.com features not only photographs of the targeted Christians, but also attempts to track down their addresses. A post about a Christian man whose computer was apparently hacked to obtain his photograph includes the man's PalTalk name, his real name, and the city where he resides in Lebanon.
Another barsomyat.com entry outlines the relations (both blood and marital) between four Christians who are apparently PalTalk users, posts photographs of them, and then states, "We have postponed publishing this information because there is a lot more to be revealed when the time is right."
Even barsomyat.com's banner displays its hatred of Christians. The banner displays a crucifix crossed out by a violent red "X," and the main heading reads in Arabic, "Christians: Revealing the Truth Behind Our Belief."
Judging by the posts, almost all of barsomyat.com's users are Middle Eastern, and they are predominantly Egyptian. Mr. Paul said that's significant because the extremists on barsomyat.com live in societies where people simply do not challenge Islam and would never dream of insulting Prophet Muhammad.
Mr. Paul, who is an Islamic convert to Christianity, said when Islamic radicals from such societies participate in Internet debates with Christians who live in societies that promote free speech, they are often shocked by the Christians' arguments and view their debating opponents as blasphemers. And in the eyes of Islamic extremists, blasphemers are worhty of death.
Author Robert Spencer, who has been following the Armanious case for his Web site Jihad Watch, described barsomyat.com as "extremely important" after it was shown to him.
"I have never seen anything like this before," Mr. Spencer said. "It's chilling to see photographs of people who probably have no idea that they're on the Web site. Hamas's Web site would post self-congratulatory accounts of their attacks on civilians, but barsomyat.com's users are telegraphiing their intended victims in advance."
Mr. Spencer added that barsomyat.com is a "prime example" of how some Islamic extremists can utilize technology to attempt to bring Islamic religious law to the West.
"We saw in the Theo van Gogh murders that some Muslims will take these kinds of matters into their own hands," Mr. Spencer said. "The Internet makes it easier for them to do so by disseminating this kind of information. You could imagine 15 years ago how hard it would be for people to get this much information on people who they believe should be killed."
Barsomyat.com is registered to Viza-Web Inc., a Web hosting company based in Woodbury, Minn.
Fred, what ever you do, if you're not sure, keep it to FReepmail and not external email where they can trace your IP.
Sound advice. Thanks.
Even if they aren't trying to convert you or behead you, every one I've ever met has had what I call the "Rug Merchant Mentality" in which truth is whatever he or she can convince you it is. And they NEVER give up.
I'm reminded of the Pigs scene in Hannibal.
Been awhile since I've PalTalked...BUT the last time I was there...I creeped into one on the Radical Muslim rooms and it is definately a place that should be monitored by the FBI and CIA.
I would trust that PalTalk is being watched rather closely and has been since 911.
Thanks for the PING and good to hear from YOU!
Think the name is really Rick Mueller?
I wonder whether if it is permissible to say "Mohammed was a pig" to a Dhimmi in order to smoke out an infidel.
I wonder whether if it is permissible to say "Mohammed was a pig" to a Dhimmi in order to smoke out an infidel.
That would be a good question for Ask the Imam, but I ain't posting there.
Do you think Anonymizer is a secure alternative to routing through proxy servers?
Arabic-speaking Christians are a threat to Muslims. They can directly understand what Muslims are saying to other Muslims in Arabic, and argue with Arab Muslims in their own language. When they quote Qu'ran at Muslims, in the original Arabic, they cannot be pushed aside with "Oh, you're quoting from a bad translation"
The US needs more bilingual Arabic Christians
Well...I guess the imam might say...It's OK as long as you don't believe it yourself and it exposes the infidel so you can kill him, peace and blessings upon you and allah knows best...
From the Muslim Sunnah Volume 4, Book 52, Number 271:
Narrated Jabir:At the link are the collected quotes on how to conduct JihaadThe Prophet said, "Who is ready to kill Ka'b bin Ashraf (i.e. a Jew)." Muhammad bin Maslama replied, "Do you like me to kill him?" The Prophet replied in the affirmative. Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say what I like." The Prophet replied, "I do (i.e. allow you)." [ie, it’s OK to use lies and deception to get close to an enemy you want to kill]
So do you think Anonymizer is a secure alternative to routing through proxy servers?
bttt
Permission granted. Thank you for that 'verse'
And that's what I was getting at. My muslim correspondent was able to say what he liked to bait me to do likewise.
When I did not respond in similar vein, he lost interest.
And the link to the Sunnah I gave at #96 is to an official site hosting the entirety of the Sunnah (which supplements and expands upon the Qu'ran and seems to occupy a similar position in Islamic scripture as the Talmud does in Judaism). It's not a bunch of unverified anti-Islam quotes
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